2013 Ford Mustang - True Green

TruFiber's GHIG GT and its carbon footprint earned our envy

Horse Sense:
While TruFiber (www.trufiber.com) is well known for is S197-and-up product line, the company offers products that fit Mustangs all the way back to 1984. Of course for this scribe, its sister company TruCarbon (www.trucarbon.net) has the most lustworthy offerings which reach all the way back to '99 Mustangs.

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Cutting through the noise on the SEMA show floor is no easy task. It is the automotive world's brightest and shiniest event. Every company is trying to attract attention, so you see plenty of bright lights and pretty girls in these booths.

We aren't so easily swayed. We're on a mission to find the hottest new Mustang gear, but even we can be stopped in our tracks by a show car. Such was the case with Trufiber's '13 GT convertible at the 2012 show.

Your author was pacing the aisles on the hunt for gear to include in our annual show coverage, and then that color caught my eye. Yes, Gotta Have It Green is the color of the twenty-teens. Its the latest Mustang it color. There have been others in the past—Chrome Yellow, Competition Orange, and Grabber Blue, to name a few—but GHIG, as the kids call it, is now.

Of course, it takes a bit more than paint to get us to power up our cameras. In the case of this convertible, it did its job, attracting our attention to Trufiber, a company that is a candy store of carbon-fiber accessories for the Mustangs that we know and love. Amongst the glitz and glamour of the SEMA show, this droptop pulled it together to grab our attention. To achieve that, they turned to 5.0&SF cover alumni Joe Solemani.

"...Over the years of building his yellow Mustang and few other personal cars," TruFiber's Phil Truong explained, "Joe met many wonderful people in the industry and forged strong relationships with them. He had also helped several other fellow Mustang enthusiasts in the past in building their cars (i.e., Barry Snow's). When we talked to him about the GHIG 5.0 and our plans to let him put the car together, he gladly started making phone calls ... which ultimately ended up as the final product you see."

It's only natural that TruFiber would adorn the exterior of its SEMA project, with a host of TruCarbon bits, including the company's Ram Air hood, NX2 fenders, trunk, rear spoiler, chin spoiler, side skirts, rear diffuser, rear diffuser splitters, and splash guards. That gear—along with a Roush lower front grille, a CDC upper grille, and a CDC lightbar—were installed by Hillbanks Motorsports. Before that, Kar Motorsports sprayed the paintable bits.

With all those exterior mods onboard and a trip to SEMA in its future, it's not like Trufiber could leave the interior alone. Accordingly, the company slathered the convertible's cabin with its TruCarbon A-pillar kit, armrest cover, mirror switch covers, window switch covers, sillplates, and radio plate. This sort of woven-carbon orgy was enough to give your scribe palpitations, but those weren't the only mods. Trufiber also added Katzkin leather seat covers and a Scott Drake shift boot to round out the interior.

Underneath, the car is augmented by both Air Lift and Whiteline suspension gear to improve its handling and looks. Phil noted, "Air Lift Performance's complete air suspension was designed on the racetrack to provide the best handling and ride quality without the normal sacrifices that come along with traditional lowering techniques. Not only can you adjust the height of the car with the air springs, but thanks to the threaded body strut design, you can also adjust the lower mount to really fine-tune the ride height.

"With the turn of a knob, you can literally go from super smooth to racetrack stiff," Phil said of the car's suspension. "Another benefit is the fact that our components weigh less than OEM, which helps reduce unsprung weight. With this suspension, you can terrorize your favorite track and daily drive your car without compromise."

Obviously this car looks good and handles well, but in our world, a Mustang is most often judged by its performance. To amp up the Coyote, Trufiber turned to Paxon Superchargers for one of its Novi 2200 intercooled supercharger kits. With boost, tuning, and some exhaust mods, the convertible put down 615 to the feet, which will certainly keep your attention when cruising with the top down.